Tag: money

Iceland has become the first country to make it illegal to pay women less than men. The new law, which took effect on January 1, imposes a fine on companies and government organisations employing more than 25 workers if they pay men more than women. The Scandinavian country wants to eliminate the pay gap between the sexes completely within the next four years.

Iceland has been considered the world’s fairest country in terms ofgender equality for the past nine years. In a country where half of the parliamentarians are female, women still earn about 15% less than men. The new Icelandic law aims at helping to change the attitude towards women in business and politics.

According to the World Economic Forum, a Swiss-basednon-profit organisation, there is a global 58 % difference in pay between the sexes. Economic experts predict that, if the current trend continues, women will have to wait over two hundred years to get equal pay and the same opportunities at work.

There is also a lack of female politicians. Only a quarter of the world’s politicians is female and fewer than one in five ministers are women. Only 23% of the world’s parliamentary seats go to females.

Singles Day is the biggest e-commerce day in the world. Organized by China’s Alibaba, shopping sales on November 11 hit a record $25 billion, 40% more than on Singles Day 2016. In contrast, Prime Day, organized by Amazonachieved only $1 billion in sales. During the Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend of 2016 American online shoppers spent $5 billion.

Singles Day started out as an informal holiday in China, celebrating people who stayed single. Similiar to Valentine’s Day in the western world Singles Day took place on 11/11 . In 2009, Alibaba turned it into a shopping holiday and in the past 8 years, sales have steadilyincreased.

Although the event targets mostly Chinese customers, shoppers came from 220 countries. Over 80 brands took part in the event, with Nike and Xiaomi Corp. among the biggest winners. Household goods and electrical appliances were the most bought products, but customers soughtbargains for almost everything, ranging from cheap toilet paper to rice.

At its peak Alibaba’s computers handled 250 000 transactions per second, most of them coming in via mobile phones. In the weeks before the event was held, Alibaba had helped 600,000 companies upgrade their computer systems to make them fit for Singles Day.

The event was also turned into a gala in Shanghai where celebrities Nicole Kidman and tennis star Maria Sharapova counted down the seconds until the world’ largest sales event started.

Many critics of the event say that Singles Day is environmentallycontroversial. It creates an enormous amount of waste. According to Greepeace, 1 billion packages were delivered in the days that followed the event.

Alibaba’s Singles Day is a display of Chinese spending power. The company’s owner, Jack Ma, is one of China’s richest men. He has been investing heavily in new technologies includingautomated stores which use facial recognition systems.

Singles Day in China – Image: Chrionexfleckeri1350

Words

according to = … as said by

achieve = here: reach a number of sales

automated = where everything is done automatically, without people helping

although = while

bargain = to buy something cheaply, for less money than usual

billion = a thousand million

brand = type of product made by a company

celebrate = here: in honour of, to show respect for

celebrity = famous person

controversial = here: to cause a lot of disagreement

critic = a person who is against something

customer = a person who buys something

deliver = to bring to a person’s home

display = to show something

e-commerce = buying and selling things with computers over the Internet

electrical appliance = things you use at home and need electricity, like a cooker or washing machine

enormous = very large

environment = nature and the world around us

facial recognition = when a computer image of a person can find out who they are

handle = deal with

heavily = very much

household goods = things that you need in the house and use every day

in contrast = the difference between two things

including = also

increase = to go up

informal = not official

record = highest

sales = buying and selling products

seek – sought = look for

steadily = slowly

target = people who the event aims at; potential customers

transaction = here: the sales of a single product

upgrade = here: to give a computer more power, so that it can do more things

The Paradise Papers are documents which show how rich people – celebrities, politicians and businessmen use offshore countries to protect themselves from paying high taxes. The documents were leaked to the German Süddeutsche Zeitung and examined by 400 journalists from all over the world.

There are more than 13 million documents that contain 1,400 GB of information. They revealfinancial transactions of hundreds of individuals, as well as famous corporations like Apple and Nike.

Among those accused of investing money in offshore accountsto avoid paying taxes are close advisors of US President Donald Trump and German ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The documents also reveal that some of Queen Elisabeth’s private money was invested in offshore accounts. Russian oligarchs with ties to the Kremlin and an aide to Canada’s Prime Minister are also named in the report.

The majority of the Paradise Papers comes from Appleby, a law firm that helps companies and rich people reduce their tax burden through offshore accounts. The firm with headquarters in Bermuda has thousands of clients and offices around the world. The other documents come from various businesses in the Carribean.

Two years ago the Panama Papers revealed similar documents. It showed how hundreds of people set up businesses in tax havens in order to hide their money and pay fewer taxes.

Bermuda – Headquarters of the Appleby law firm – Image: Eric Gaba

Words

accuse = to believe that someone has done something wrong or illegal

advisor = a person who helps you and gives you information because they know a lot about a certain subject

aide = someone who helps a politician

avoid = to prevent something from happening

business = company

celebrity = famous person

chancellor = here: leader of the German government

corporation = large company

examine = to look at very closely

financial transaction = here: money moves from one place to another

headquarters = the main building or offices used by a large company

individual = single person

leak = to give secret information to a newspaper, TV station or journalists

majority = most

politician = person who works in politics, either for a government or a political party

offshore = here: country in which you pay less tax than elsewhere

offshore account = bank account in a country where you pay fewer taxes than in your home country

oligarch = boss of a group of people who run a country or organisation

reduce = lower

reveal = show something that hasn’t been known before

similar = almost the same

tax = the money you must pay to the government based on your income

tax burden = here: the amount of taxes you pay

tax haven = country where people go to live in order to avoid paying high taxes in their own country

For the first time in history there are more billionaires in Asia than in the United States. But, the amount of wealth among American billionaires is still higher than in Asia. There are a total of over 1500 billionaires in the world today , 10 % more than last year. According to a new business report, one new billionaire pops up every second day.

The overall wealth of American billionaires reached $2.8 trillion last year, while Asian billionaires accumulated a total of $2 trillion. If the trend continues, within four years , Asian billionaires will have overtaken America . The combined wealth of the world’s billionaires has increasedto over $6 trillion.

The new Asian billionaires come mostly from India and China. Most of them make their money in consumer industries and technology. Especially in China, billionaires are younger than elsewhere. Some haven’t even reached the age of 30 yet.

The new billionaires in Asia are investing large sums of their money in sports. They are buying whole sports teams in their home country as well as in Europe. Art and museums are other areas of interest for the new billionaires.

Li Ka-shing, one of the richest people in Asia – Image: EdTech Stanford University School of Medicine

Words

according to … = as reported by …

accumulate = to get more and more money over a period of time

amount = here:how much money in total

billionaire = a person who has more than a thousand million dollars

combined = here: all billionaires in the world together

consumer industries = factories and companies that make everyday things that people need

especially = above all

increase = to go up

invest = to buy or spend money on something because you will need it later on